>> it's never been done before. >> jack kennedy lowered tax -- >> now you're jack kennedy? >> ronald reagan. >> you are no jack kennedy, 24 years later. joe biden turned up the intensity after a lackluster debate performance at the top of the ticket. good morning. i'm willie geist and this is "way too early." in danville, kentucky, they were pressed from the moderator. some of the shorpest points of contrast came on the subject of iran's nuclear program and the two sides conflicting plans for medicare. the vice president made an effort to be engaged even when congressman ryan had the floor. unlike president obama, the vice president kept his eyes on his opponent smiling and shaking his head as the republican candidate attacked. the hot topic of libya and the deadly assault in benghazi

that killed four americans including the u.s. ambassador. president obama's deputy campaign manager suggested the only reason the obama's handling of the attack is because the republicans are talking about it on the campaign trail. she said that was reckless and irresponsib irresponsible. last night, ryan blasted the white house. >> it took the president two weeks to announce it was a terrorist attack. if we are hit by terrorists, we are going call it what it is. this benghazi issue would be a tragedy in and of its, but it's a broader problem, that is what we are watching on tv screens is the unraveling of the policies. >> that's a bunch of mularkey. the congressman here cut embassy security in his budget by $300 million below what we asked for.

>> the vice president weighed in and responded to claims the administration did not respond to requests for more security. >> we weren't told they want more security. we did not know they wanted more security. by the way, at the time, we were told exactly -- we said exactly what the intelligence community told us that they knew. that was the assessment. as they changed their view, we made it clear. we will get to the bottom of this. usually when there's a crisis, we pull together. we pull together as a nation. before we knew what happened to the ambassador, the govern was holding a press conference. that's not presidential leadership. >> american leaders said in testimony they did request more security and didn't get it. on domestic policy, they went at it on whose tax plan is better for the middle class. the president failed to mention

the 47% comments. last night, the vice president was sure to get it in. >> it shouldn't be surprising for a guy who says 47% of the american people are unwilling to take responsibility for their own lies. my friend, in a speech in washington said 30% of the american people are takers. these people are my mom and dad, the people i grew up with, my neighbors. they pay more tax than governor romney pays on his federal income tax. i have had it up to here, this 47%. it's time to take responsibility here. instead of signing pledges to grover nor quis not to ask the wealthiest among us to bring back to middle class, sign a pledge saying we are going to level the playing field. >> romney is a good man. he cares about 100% of americans in this country. with respect to that quote, i think the vice president very well knows sometimes the words don't come out of your mouth the

right way. >> but i always say what i mean. >> vice president biden and congressman ryan trading bars over government spending and the administration stimulus plan during the financial crisis. >> they passed the similar lus. we could boarry $831 billion, spend it on special interest groups and it would work out fine. unemployment was above 8% for 43 months. if we passed the stimulus, it would grow to 4%. it's 1.3. >> i love my friend here. i'm not allowed to show letters but go on our website. he sent two letters saying by the way, can you send me stimulus money for companies here in the state of wisconsin. we sent millions of dollars. >> you did? >> we advocated for constituents for applying for grants. it's what we do. we do it for all constituents.

>> i love that. i love that. >> one of the issues in this election, both men dug in their heels for plans on medicare and social security. >> here is the problem. they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar turning medicare into a piggy bank for obama care. they came to congress and said one out of six hospitals and nursing homes are going to go out of business as a result of this. 7.4 million seniors are projected to lose the medicare coverage they have. it's a $3200 benefit cut. these are from your own -- >> more people signed up for medicare after the change. >> mr. vice president -- mr. vice president, i know you are under a lot of duress to make up for round one, but i think people would be better served if we don't keep interrupting each other. >> they have not been big on medicare from the beginning. they have always been about

social security as little as you can do. use your common sense, who do you trust on this? a man who introduced a bill that would raise $6400 a year knowing it and passing it and romney saying he would sign it. >> that statistic was completely misleading. more importantly, this is what politicians do when they don't have a record to run on. try to scare people from voting for you. medicare did so much for my own family, we are not going to jeopardize this program. >> you are jeopardizing the program. you are changing the program from a guaranteed benefit. whatever you call it, the bottom line is people are going to have to pay more out of their pockets. the families i know, they don't have the money to pay more. >> joining me now from the sight of last night's debate, time magazine senior analyst, mark halperin, he's the co-author of

game change and the forthcoming game change. mark, thanks for waking up early, my friend. >> i'm happy to be here. i have had it up to here with your mularkey, with all due respect. >> get off my lawn. >> yeah. >> let's get to your report card. paul ryan a b and joe biden a b-. here is the wisdom. democrats say joe biden was strong, he was the adult on stage. he stopped the bleeding, such that it was from last week's debate. for republicans paul ryan passed the can he be president threshold and joe biden was rude and arrogant. what say you? >> it's certainly the case. there were some democrats who conceded the point. that's why i gave the vice president a lower grade. the smiles, laughs, smirks.

i don't think it changed anything about the race. i think that they both laid down the markers and, again, for their own parties, mostly. the vice president energizing democrats and for paul ryan showing people he was on that stage and not overrun. the vice president clearly dominated the proceedings. >> we have seen paul ryan a lot for those of us who cover politics. we have seen him on press conferences and capitol hill, never in the big lights. how did he do from start to finish? >> you know, again, we were reading the leaves a little bit. i thought he started out nervous. he reacted very well. some people would have been overwhelmed by the vice presidents antics. i think he handled it fine. on foreign policy, which is not his area of expertise, i thought his lines were rehearsed but well delivered. on domestic policy, he was strong, trying to round edges more. this was not the hero of the

right who came in to try to overwhelm the vice president with arguments saying you are too far to the left, we are going to change america in a fundamental way. trying to blur the differences on the big issues between the parties. it's where the romney campaign is headed right now. >> going back to the top of the debate, the question of libya, how big is this going to be? is this something that republicans have been pushing for some time, hoping to get it picked up more as a central issue in this campaign. it seems to be happening now. this libya question every day, you get something new about it. how big of a problem is it for the white house? >> certainly something republicans are going to pursue. governor romney made his biggest news of the day with the extended remark, somewhat passionate remarks of why this is an issue that needs to be pursued. i thought the moderator and congressman ryan pushed on this, the vice president's answers were a little bit vague and

maybe not directly taken into account everything we learned already. i think it's part of a broader republican argument about leadership and whether the country is headed in the right direction. it's going to continue for sure. we'll see if the media and voters latch on to it as much as the republicans. >> as much as you are latched on to your mary poppen's umbrella. >> mark, we are going talk to you on "morning joe." >> what did you think of the debate? you can e-mail me or tweet me. we'll read a few at the end of the show. still ahead, alex rodriguez lost at the plate throughout the season. pulled back to the bench again for a pinch hitter. the full night of playoff highlights, who is still alive and who's season is over? it's ahead in sports. the real debate was in southern california. a couple sitting united states

congressmen who hate each other going nose-to-nose. that and a check on the weather when we come back. eyewitnesses say two men snapped to attention, then the blast. an enormous explosion that tears a gash in the side of the ship. sea water rushes through the 20 x 40 foot hole. the crew fights desperately to save the ship. whoa, look at all those toys.

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5:44 in the morning. a live picture in the darkness of the plaza here outside our building. let's get a check on the weather from bill karins. >> good friday.

a lot going on. we have had a nice quiet period of weather this two weeks of october. now cold weather and maybe tornadoes this weekend. the worst up in northern new england. a cold, chilly rain. this is setting the stage for a cold friday and tonight, the growing season is going to officially come to an end down through connecticut. we are expecting temperatures in the 20s late tonight and tomorrow morning. be prepared for that. the rainshowers will move into boston, hartford and new england. the cold front will come through and cool you off tonight. other areas of bad weather, tennessee had thunderstorms overnight, strong storms. nationals getting wet. here is how the forecast shapes up the next three days. today, nothing too bad severe wise, a few strong storms near lubbock and amarillo. severe weather outbreak, almost like a spring-like condition

with possible tornadoes, damaging winds as the thunderstorms form over des moines, kansas city, arkansas especially missouri up into illinois. the east coast, you warm up after a cold saturday morning for a very nice saturday afternoon. sunday looks great on the east coast, too. we watch the ohio valley and tennessee valley. we could be dealing with stormy weather. leaf piquing. >> we'll talk to you later orn "morning joe." more drama between the yankees and the orioles. a night after suffering a walk-off loss, the orioles facing elimination at yankees stadium, game four came down to the wire. scoreless until phil hughes serves one up. solo home run to the right. 1-0. it's the only run he gave up.

eighth inning, score tied at one. a shot at redemption, put one in play. lift one to the outfield, something. he waves at a fastball. the yankees held scoreless after getting second and third with one out. they stay tied through nine. extra innings. a-rod 2 for 17 with nine strikeouts. watch this strange moment, the bat saws in half, hits java chamberlain. he has a contusion on the elbow, tried to stay in. x-ray is negative. phelps still on the mound. manny on third. j.j. harding rips a double. strolls in. os lead, 2-1. last chance for the yankees. a-rod is due up. they pull him, again, for a second straight night for

chavez. he lines out at third and that ends the game. orioles win, 2-1. alex rodriguez pulled back from the bench with a game on the line. turning into a classic. the back-to-back playoff games have gone at least 12 inughs. on the other side, the as saw their run come to an end. justin verlander of the tigers absolutely dominated. four hit shutouts with 11 strouks. tigers never bothered to warm up another pitcher in the bull pen. tigers win, 6-0. they advance to the alcs. they get the win of game five. washington facing elimination at home facing st. louis. adam laroche breaks a solo tie. nats get on the board after they were shut out two days ago.

jason werth. fouled off pitch after pitch. 13 pitches in all into the at bat. here he is on a 3-2 count, bottom of the ninth, tie game. announcer: 3-2, a drive to left field. looking up. way back. it's gone! >> jason werth is the hero in washington. nats win, 2-1. they live to play another game. they get the cardinals in a winner take all game five. giants and reds facing off in game five. giants up, 2-0. bases loaded for buster posy. gone. grand slam into the second deck. the giants go up, 6-0 there. the reds got something of a comeback but never came all the way back. the first team in major league

history to come back from a deficit by winning three consecutive games on the road. it's what san francisco did to win this series. they haven't won a home playoff game in 17 years. the front page of the san francisco chronicle showing san francisco celebrating. they move on to get the winner of the nats/cardinal playoff game. hammel going against cc sabathia and then the nationals and the cardinals. washington likes their chances with him on the mound. nfl, thursday night football, steelers on the road in music city. taking on the titans. first quarter, purposing from 22. it's not good. titans eventually recovered near the goal line. it led to a tennessee touchdown. four seconds left. score tied at 23. good from 40 yards out.

the party is on in nashville. titans win the section of the season. steelers drop to 2-3 losing their third consecutive. coming up at the top of the hour, joe biden and paul ryan get together for their one and only debate serving as proxies for the president and mitt romney. how did ryan do? we'll knock that around with our "morning joe" crew. when we come back here, we huddle around the water cooler to watch a near brawl in a debate in california. head locks and fingers in faces when way too early comes back. a great clean doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. i'm gonna read one of these. i'm gonna read one of these! [ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags, swiffer 360 duster's extender gets into hard-to-reach places without the hassle. so you can get unbelievable dust pickup in less time without missing a thing. i love that book. can you believe the twin did it? ♪

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joe and i are from similar towns. he's from scanton, pennsylvania, i'm from wisconsin. you know the unemployment rate in scranton? >> sure do. >> it's 10%. the day you came in it was 8.5%. >> that's not how it's going. it's going down. >> joe biden and paul ryan met in danville, kentucky for the first and only vice president debate. the candidates split the air time almost right down the middle. tell your friends joe biden spoke for 1:20 longer than paul ryan did during last night's debate. ryan used 40 minutes and 12

seconds. he managed 450 more words than biden did during that span. now you know. let's huddle up around the water cooler to talk about the debate everybody is talking about. it's between two california democrats in the 30th district. howard berman on the left and bradsherman went head-to-head quite literally at pierce college in santa monica. they described this race as one of the ten nastiest in the country after redistricting the two incumbents against each other. they do not like each other. the two democrats nearly came to blows when the topic of immigration. >> he's either delusional or --

>> the official records of congress -- >> how about the sheriff stepping in? the debate resumed after they calmed down. the campaign manager for berman said sherman was quote, challenging him to a fight. the campaign consultant called

that ridiculous saying berman initiated the whole exchange. lower left, the nice lady signing this whole thing as they begin to fight -- look at her. no, no, no. then they go into the head lock formation here. she doesn't know what to do with herself. there it is. still ahead on "way too early" why you are awake. "morning joe" is moments away. [ female announcer ] food, meet flavor. flavor, meet food. it's time for swanson flavor boost. concentrated broth in easy to use packets. mix it into skillet dishes, for an instant dose of... hell-o!

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